The Pastor in Eden

God was the pastor in the Garden of Eden. He prepared the church ground. He placed everything in the right place and position. He provided for the needs of the church. He walked in the cool of the day with his faithful congregation. The sanctuary was full of light. He said, “let there be light.” The word of God is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Genesis 1:3 was the first time God spoke, and what he said was, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Light is the most important component of the church.  Before God spoke light into existence in the earth or in the life of an unbeliever, which we were before Jesus Christ came into our lives, the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Jesus Christ is the Light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world. If you have not received this light you are still in darkness, void and without form. The pastor in Eden is still the pastor today. He is the source of and he is the Light. A pastor must always speak light into his assembly to put away darkness from his environment and congregation.

The Assembly in Eden

The congregation in the Garden of Eden included Adam and Eve. The assembly was for a while made up of the pastor and only one member Adam. Then the pastor got Eve and fellowship was nice. When the fellowship was between the pastor and Adam, the pastor gave Adam the power of revelation to name things as they are till today. Adam named the lion and gave the woman the name Eve (Genesis 2:19 and 3:20). There was peace in the church in Eden. How peaceful is your church or even your home church of husband, wife and children?

The Sermons in Eden

God preached several sermons to the congregation in Eden, both recorded and unrecorded.

But we shall focus on three major sermons:

• This first sermon was preached to Adam when he was the only member of the church in Eden. Genesis 2:16-17, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” This sermon is current; remember the bible says in Ezekiel 18:20, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Eating of the tree of good and evil is disobedience to God’s word and sermon. Disobedience to God’s word is still a sin and death is the consequence. You may say that Adam lived for several hundreds of years after he ate of the tree of good and evil. But the truth is Adam died the moment he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When God can no longer fellowship with you in the cool of the day or night, something is wrong. Peace was gone, fear that man never knew came into When you sin you die, a big door is opened to demons and your defense is departed from you. Remember Adam had no earthly father or mother to turn to. No one had gone through this path Adam was going through. No counselors or elders or assistant pastor to call to know what to do. Repentance was not in the vocabulary as it is today. That is why there will be greater condemnation for the people of today for greater than a prophet has come and men and men dwell in sin. Jesus Christ was and is more than a prophet; He is God now in your Garden of Eden. Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
• The second sermon is in Genesis 3:1-6. Today, you go to a true church and hear a God- inspired sermon. On the way home, you turn on the radio or when you get home you turn on the television or even on your hand-held cellular phone, you hear another sermon. You realize that this second sermon is contrary to what good sermon you just listened to in church or the bible. This experience is not different from what happened in the Garden of Eden. As there are many crooked, false and deceitful preachers today so was the case in the church in Eden. God preached a beautiful sermon to Adam who shared the message with Eve when she joined the assembly. This was evident by Eve acknowledging, when the serpent mentioned the first sermon preached to Adam by God. Remember the serpent may have been in the fellowship and Adam did not know, and was listening to the sermon but God knew all things. Maybe the devil had Adam re-preaching the first sermon to Eve.

The subtle serpent could not preach his own sermon but counterfeited the sermon of God. Now hear how the serpent started his own sermon; “Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” God never said do not eat of every tree of the garden but said, of every tree of the garden you may eat except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent was subtle, crafty, religious, political and deadly because there was no life in him. He was not the tree of Life. Good and evil from the same tree reminds one of James 3:10-12; James said, “my brethren it ought not so to be.”

The serpent uses your word against you always. As he continues his sermon he took Eve’s words and twisted them.  First of all, God did not tell Adam not to touch the tree as Eve said, God only said ye shall not eat of the tree. That was a lie, an exaggeration or a slip of tongue or memory.

The serpent continued his sermon by telling Eve that she would not die if she meddled with the tree. He may have told her to touch the tree and see, and nothing happened to her. This might have emboldened her to follow along to eat.  The word of God said, if you eat, not if you touch this tree, ye shall die. The serpent said ye shall not die but will become like gods knowing good and evil. She ate and gave it also to her husband Adam.  Their eyes were opened as the serpent said, only to see themselves naked and vulnerable. But, according to their real pastor, God, they died and peace and protection were gone as fear set in. Today, many preachers convince you like the serpent to see things their way. If you go along, peace and the protection of God will depart from you.  Fear, separation from God and death will grip you. Jesus Christ is the only true acceptable sacrifice for sin and death. Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. Who is your pastor and what sermons are you listening to?

• • The third sermon is in Genesis 3:8-19. Adam had listened to another sermon by the serpent and ate of the tree God forbade him and his wife. This led to broken trust, death reigned, fear, nakedness and hiding became the outcome of listening to the serpent pastor.

The most interesting and prophetic part of the third sermon is verse 15 which reads, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed (Christ Jesus and true believers who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior); it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”  Imagine which is worse, bruising the head or the heel. Bruising the heel is a battle scar but bruising the head is death.  God gave the last sermon in the Garden of Eden, before man was driven out; and the false preacher became a reptile. God sent man out of Eden and placed Cherubims in the east of the garden and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The Congregation Goes Against the Pastor

Very often, the congregation goes against the true pastor. Whenever this happens, remember the Garden of Eden. There were only three committed members God, Adam and Eve: until the serpent preached to Eve and made a convert of her. She in turn made a convert of Adam and man sinned against God. God preached the word to Adam and Eve, and as long as they remained in the word, they had peace and never knew fear or separation from God, which is death.

Adam and Eve broke fellowship with God and became converts to the serpent. Fear started to have dominion over mankind. Hebrews 2:15 reads, “And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Only Jesus could reverse the destruction brought on man in the Garden of Eden. Man listened to the sermons of the serpent, ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thereby, disobeying God. For this reason, man died.

The Hireling Pastor

There are so many hireling pastors today. It is your fault if you get taken by any of them. They deceive people who do not pray, read their bible and have a personal relationship with God, the Lord Jesus the Christ. The bible says, “By their fruit ye shall know them.” Consider the first false preacher, the serpent, and how he operates:

1. He comes to preach to people who are out of fellowship or are not attentive to the true preacher of the true word of God. What was Eve doing away from Adam? Why was she in the immediate environment of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
2. He engages people by twisting the word of God. He uses reverse psychology to get you confused, such as, “hath God said.” He used it on Eve and started a destructive conversation that ended in the downfall of man. He tried it on Jesus Christ during the temptation in the wilderness and failed. The serpent became religious and said to Jesus Christ, “It is written.” These were all religious deception of the serpent and many preachers today are using the same spirit that was in the serpent to take people captive. You may say how is this possible? Read Revelation 16:13-14 and 2nd Chronicles 18:21.
3. The serpent now introduces death to the people with the promise that they will have power and be like gods. Does this not sound familiar? Recently I saw a clip on Kenyan TV about a preacher whose members are mostly women, very vulnerable types, needing children, husbands, jobs etc. The name of the church is “Breast and hand assembly” or something like that. He ministers would have the women kneeling down in front of him. He would put his hand on their breasts. In the clip, he said that the women must not wear bra when coming to his church. There were at least one hundred women in the church, as shown in the clip. These women did not take the time to search the Holy Bible to know if this was a correct practice. Remember, the scripture cannot be broken. False preachers are everywhere.  You are supposed to work out your salvation and make your calling and election sure.
4. Imagine the preachers turned to angels of light; they are everywhere. Watching on TV a preacher in Nigeria, gave a message on Lazarus and the rich man. He praised the rich man about his lifestyle, that he was a man with prosperity or wealth mentality, advocated for such. He painted Lazarus as being content with eating and looking for crumbs; at said that was a poverty mentality. This is serpent-like preaching. He does not paint the whole picture. Whether one is poor or rich is in the hand of God. Jesus Christ preached the original sermon on Lazarus and the rich man, in Luke 16:19-31. The Lord preached a balanced sermon. This TV preacher, said what he felt will edify his audience but like a hireling did not balance his sermon. He never told his listeners that the rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, died and was buried and woke up in hell, in torment. But Lazarus who was covered with sores and dogs licked sores at the rich man’s gate; also died and angels came to carry him to Abraham’s bosom. This preacher hid the truth like the serpent from his listeners. Many may believe him, maintain a false and deceptive live and end in hell.

The Truth of the Word Always Prevails.

Without doubt the word of God always prevails. The Lord said, in Genesis 2:17, “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Since Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; death has prevailed. God set Cherubims and a flaming sword to watch over the Tree of Life. Adam was not forbidden from eating of the tree of Life but was under the influence of Eve and the serpent. God kept the Tree of Life, eternal life  before Adam and Eve would eat of it. If they had eaten of it, they would have never died. Today the tree of Life (Jesus Christ) is before man but as in the Garden of Eden, they still go with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the serpent. What an irony of life! The best way to hide a thing is to keep it in the open.

But God did not forget that man was not forbidden to eat of the Tree of Life.  Therefore, God has promised the tree of Life one more time. The choice is yours. Read Revelation 2:7, “To him that over-cometh will I give to eat of the tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” Read also Revelation 22:1-3. Do all you can to eat of the Tree of Life which Adam and Eve missed in the Garden of Eden? Listen to the true word of God and stay away from the serpent. Jesus Christ is the Tree of Life, believe his word, repent and be converted, that ye may have right to the Tree of Life.